Tag Archives: individual Development Account

Native American tribal representatives from many parts of the U.S. converged on Denver, Colorado, in November 2014 to attend a state-of-the-art, two-day “Native IDA Training Workshop” sponsored by First Nations Oweesta Corporation (an independent subsidiary of First Nations Development Institute), Christina Finsel Consulting, and First Nations Development Institute. Attendance at the workshop demonstrated the broad and fast-growing interest in an effort that is helping Native Americans build their assets.

IDAs, or Individual Development Accounts, are matched-savings accounts that help people learn the savings habit. The training was designed to assist Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), tribes and other Native organizations that are hoping to establish or build their IDA programs. Nationally, there are more than 30 Native IDA programs serving their respective communities.

The more than 25 participants represented numerous tribes or reservation-based organizations, including Gila River, Santo Domingo Pueblo, Seminole, Seneca, Sisseton Wahpeton, Chickasaw and others. They attended sessions that covered designing a new program, growing an existing program, and how to capitalize an IDA program.

Because the programs represented were at different levels of evolution, the workshop modules were customized for different working groups. Topics were as broad as designing or modifying policies and procedures, data management and reporting, and program sustainability. All of the participants were interested in discussing marketing and recruitment strategies, and peer learning was supported as the more mature IDA programs were able to mentor young or start-up IDA programs.

Participants responded positively to the training, with one sharing that “facilitators took the time to listen and answer our questions … they were very knowledgeable.” All attendees agreed that the content presented was useful to them. Most participants (95%) also agreed they would recommend this training to others.

“We were honored to work with people to help them design IDA programs to meet the needs in their communities,” observed Krystal Langholz, Director of Programs at First Nations Oweesta Corporation. “New groups left with real plans for moving their IDA programs forward and existing IDA programs networked and received one-on-one technical assistance from the best in the industry.”

“I am so impressed with all the enthusiasm I have seen for the IDA program model,” noted Christy Finsel, a co-trainer for the workshop. “Tribes and Native nonprofits are finding their own paths forward, with programs that are reflective of local cultures and designed to help build assets.”

Hunkpati Investments, Inc. established the Crow Creek Fresh Food Initiative (CCFFI) to grow healthy children and communities through educational programs and activities that connect tribal youth and families with food – from seed to table.

Hunkpati worked to create the initiative with support from a First Nations grant, underwritten by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Sara Rockwood shows off her canned goods.

In 2012, the initiative recruited 51 tribal youth from the Boys and Girls Club’s Crow Creek Unit to help plant, harvest, sell and donate more than 350 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables from nearly 30 individual and community garden plots. As a result of these efforts, CCFFI donated approximately $600 worth of food from these gardens to children, families and elders across the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.

Additionally, they sold another $400 worth of produce at their farmers market. Undoubtedly, this initiative has helped promote healthy eating and active living in this community. The benefits of this program, however, extend well beyond health and nutrition, as tribal youth also participated in a youth IDA (Individual Development Account) match-savings and financial education program. As a result of this component of the program, two participants, Sara Rockwood and TaShawna Medicine Crow, developed and implemented their own summer food business: “Fresh Grown Goodies.”

TaShawna Medicine Crow (left) and Sara Rockwood work in the community garden.

Sara and TaShawna prepared, canned and sold jams, jellies and salsas they made with food from the CCFI community garden. They sold their products over the summer at a local farmers market and then deposited their profits into a Teen IDA savings account for future use.

This innovative initiative demonstrates the profound potential that can be found at the intersection of youth, land, agriculture and entrepreneurship.